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Dane County Public Health

There is a novel type of coronavirus (COVID-19) that was first found in Wuhan, China. It has spread to over 100 countries, and the first case was confirmed in the US in Washington on January 21, 2020. There are over a hundred thousand cases worldwide and thousands of deaths. The World Health Organization declared it a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Governor Evers declared this a Public Health Emergency in Wisconsin on March 12, 2020.

Current Wisconsin Orders

On March 17, 2020 Governor Evers and Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm announced orders PDF to limit public gatherings to under 10 people. The order closes all taverns. Food establishments can remain open only for takeout or delivery. The orders are in effect at March 17, 2020 at 5:00pm. The state has shared FAQs PDF about this order.

· As of March 19, there are 27 people who have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) in Dane County.

· On March 17, we announced there is community spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Dane County. The term “community spread” means there is no known source of the disease, such as recent contact with an infected person or travel from an area with a high number of cases. Given that we anticipate more positive tests, we are no longer issuing news releases for each person diagnosed with the virus. Instead, we will be putting an updated number of positive tests on this page each day.

· On March 15, 2020, we issued a county-wide order PDF to close schools and stop gatherings of 50 or more people as of March 16, 2020 at 12:01 am to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. This order will continue until further notice. Please see our news release for more information.